Moving On
by SoulMaiden24
Summary: Two years after the success of Operation Brighton, everyone starts to celebrate, but when an unexpected guest arrives, with the entire Union be left unscathed? KeithxKatexIce


**A/N: Okay, first pokemon fanfic, so let me know what you think! **

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**Kate's POV:**

I felt my eyes lazily drift open, as I awoke in my bed. I quickly sat up, looking around my surroundings, and breathed a sigh of disappointment to what I saw. It was the same dorm room, the one I had been sharing with Rhythmi for how long now? One, two years now? Oh yeah, about two years now, especially based on what day it was, since it was...

"GOOD MORNING!" She seemed to pop out of just nowhere, causing me to yelp in surprise. Speaking about Rhythmi...

"So? You know what day it is? Huh, do ya Kate?" The overly perky blond asked me over and over, until I finally got annoyed by this, and pushed her off of my bed, since she had just plopped down there without any real permission, I guess she deserved it.

Although, Rhythmi didn't seem to happy about this, as she quickly stood back up, staring at me with what I can only describe, as the _angriest _eyes that I have ever seen in my entire life. I swear, they just looked like two small flames where her brown eyes used to be.

"Hey! No need to be so rude!" She yelled at me, and I took the time to notice that she was already dressed for work in her green and white Top Operator outfit, rimmed in a red and yellow color, and which in my opinion, wasn't very fashionable. But still, I really didn't like it when she snapped at me. After all, the only people who quarrel like the two of us did were either best friends, or even frenimes. Well, sometimes it could be hard to tell which one we were, but, you know, some days for us are better than others.

"You're the one who scared me half to death _just _as I woke up!" I yelled back in response, but a thought just came to my mind, "Wait, what time is it anyway?" Was there anyway that I highly overslept? Because if I did, she had all rights to yell at me at, well, what ever time it was.

"Oh, it's about... I don't know, seven in the morning?" She said, suddenly calming down quite a bit, and I wasn't really surprised about the sudden mood swing, she seemed to have those frequently as of the last month or so...

"So it's still pretty early? Good, I thought I overslept or something..." And with that, I finally got up from bed and stretched out a little bit, before letting out a small yawn of exhaustion.

"Hey, did you have any of the nightmares again?" She asked sympathetically, as I started to get one of my many uniforms out of my drawer, but stopped and turned around towards her, putting an amused smile on my face.

"Oh please Rhyth, don't be so worried all the time!" I knew she was still a little concerned for me since the Darkrai incident, but there really wasn't anything **_to _**be worried about! "You know that I only got that nightmare once, and that was the same _week _that it happened, you know I'm fine!"

"But still Kate," I heard her still start to ramble on, but I just went into the small side bathroom to change my clothes. Although, that didn't discourage Rhythmi from talking to me through the door.

"Hey Kate! Don't you know what day it is?" She asked again, as I just pulled my ranger jacket over my white shirt.

I opened the door, holding my pajamas in my hand. (my 'pajamas' were just a pair of oversized and baggy clothes that I would never wear in public)

"Oh course I do! It's the two year anniversary of the success of Operation Brighton! And wow, that's a mouthful!" And in response, I earned a giggle from her.

"Well, duh! I'm so glad that you remembered!" She shrieked, and I felt myself roll my eyes at her. I mean, how could I forget what today was? Especially since she had practically reminded me for the past month about this special event today was. (After all, she made almost as much of a big deal about this as her birthday. Which, by the way, was exactly two months and seventeen days awa, according to her.)

"Now listen, we're all planning on throwing a party later today, but we still need to set up all the decorations and stuff..." And knowing Rhythmi, she was probably gonna ask me to help set up, and get everyone to come on time, and... "So come back in about four hours, kay?"

And with that, she was already starting to push me out of the room, my messy bedhead still not in their usual pigtails, or in my usual case, a pair of chinese buns. (Throughout the years, my hair has grown longer, and I've been too lazy to cut it any shorter.) But wait, this was still partly my room too! She just can't kick me out!

"Hey!" I yelled at her, as she almost pushed me ou the door. Rhythmi stopped pushing me, but she didn't look too happy, but hey, niether was I.

"Can't I at **_least _**fix my hair before you decide to kick me out of my _own _room!" I heard her sigh, and she stepped in front of the door of our room, and gave me that kinda, "hurry up" signal.

Shrugging my shoulders, I went back into the bathroom and picked up my black hairbrush. I furiously pulled and yanked at my knotted nest of light brown hair, before it eventually turned out like it was naturally suppose to be, smooth, flat, and well, slightly curled. My hair only curled when it got this long, if it was as short as it was a couple years ago, it would have been completely straight. But now, I had to face an important decision.

Should I straighten it with an iron before I pulled my hair up into the buns, or should I just leave it, and _then _tie it up? After all, the cloth I use for the chinese buns would cover up any possible curls that would be visual...

"Why don't you just leave your hair like that instead of tying it up?" I heard a voice from behind me ask, and turning around, I saw it was just Rhythmi.

**Rhythmi's POV:**

"I don't know, I just always put it up into buns, no big deal..." I didn't like her answer. I mean, no one ever really saw her with her hair down. Actually, believe it or not, this was **_my _**first time seeing her hair down like that, all combed out and neat and everything. After all, when she has a bedhead of messed up brown hair in the morning, it doesn't really look all that cute. But looking at it now, I would hate to admit it, and would probably never tell anyone out loud, it looked completely stunning, and actually, (as hard as it is to believe) it looked cuter than **mine**!

When it was down, it didn't look anything like it did when we first met, or even two years ago during Operation Brighton. For one thing, it was much longer than it originally was, now a couple inches past her shoulders, man her hair grows fast! And for another thing, it wasn't completely straight anymore like it used to be when it was short. From her roots to halfway down the length of her hair, but the rest of the way down, it was curled into these kinda wavy but still quite noticeable curls.

And yet, although she has this insanely awesome hair, she wastes it by hiding it in those totally unfashionable chinese buns! (I mean, on other people, they look awesome, but on her, they just didn't really work)

But while I thinking about all these reasons of why she shouldn't wear chinese buns, I suddenly noticed that Kate was already halfway done! With half of her hair already covered up by a red cloth in a round bun, she was about to start on the other one.

"Let me help you..." I told her, grasping the rest of her hair in my hands, and starting to smooth it out. If I was an expert on anything, it would either have to do with hair, makeup, or wardrobe. (I know I'm an Operator, but I still have talent for girly things!) I was tying the other bun up, and tried my best to make it as semetric to the other one as possible.

"Thanks Rhyth!" I heard Kate say, slightly breaking my insense concentration on her hair. But I looked into the bathroom mirror and smiled at her all the same, since she was already smiling at me.

Sure, I could have been able to argue with her on proper hairstyle and everything, but I decided that I wouldn't do that today. Because whether she knew it or not, and I'm pretty sure she didn't, this day was going to be all about her! The party and everything that was planned today was going to be for mainly just her. Which was also a reason why it was my job to get her out of the Union building as fast as I could. After all, we couldn't set up for her surprise party if she was still in the building...

The minute that I was finished with her hair, I practically shoved her out the door of our room the next second. I realized that I might have been acting a little rude to my best friend, but it will all be worth it when she gets her party and I see that look on her face!

"Okay! Okay! If you want me to leave so badly, I can still walk!" She shouted just as I was about to shove her down the escalator on the third floor. Alright, _maybe_ I was going a little overboard with this, but it wastill a good cause! Everyone wants to surprise her, and having Kate still in the building stalled our 'party project'. Besides, there was another reason to celebrate today, and it didn't have to do with Operation Brighton...

Although, I could still get her out of here _without _pushing her...

"Well, maybe you should visit your family today! I'll bet that they'll be really happy to see you!" I said, while we were both taking the short ride down the escalators, slowly making our way to the bottom floor.

"I mean, your little sister Lily must miss you, right?" I asked, since I had always thought Lily was so cute, although I forgot how old she was now, probably seven or eight I guess...

"Actually, I visited my family **_yesterday _**Rhythmi..."

"You can visit them again!" I quickly said as I escorted her out of the Union, and I was glad we were outside, because I was running out of things to talk to her about.

I watched her cature the nearby Staraptor, her styler moving so fast that it just looked like a blue blur of light. And as she started to soar off away from the building, I waved up at her, until she was finally out of sight.

I sighed at my small victory of finally kicking her out, as Wendy approached me from behind, her own Staraptor closely following her.

"So, you finally got her to leave?" I heard her ask sarcastically, and in response, I just nodded my head. But that simple answer seemed to satisfy her just fine. "Good, now we can start the set up on the roof!" She exclaimed cheerfully, and I'll be honest, she sounded more excited than I would have originally thought she would have been.

I knew that Kate really deserved a party like the one we were throwing today, since she barely got any fun lately, but I also realized something else. I also knew that a bunch of other people besides Kate were responsible for the success of Operation Brighton, including people like Wendy, but still, the party wasn't going to be all about _her_. You would have thought she would have been at leat a little jealous of Kate, especially because she had been a Top Ranger before Kate as well, and she probably never got some huge party.

"So, you excited for the party?" I asked sheepishly as we both walked back into the Ranger Union.

"Oh yeah, totally!" She cheered, kinda catching me offguard. "Kate really deserves a party or all her hard work, and I wanna make sure that she gets one!"

Wow, I guess pretty much everybody likes Kate. But then again, there isn't all that much about her that you _can't _like. I mean, the girl was practically perfect, smart, friendly, caring, and yet, still heroic. Man, sometimes I wish that I could be like that. But then again, it would probably take a whole lota work to become a person like Kate. And I like my life as it is, so, maybe I'll just stick to being girly...

As Wendy and I rode the final escalator to the rooftop, we saw that Keith, Sven, and Lynda were already starting to decorate the place. Even the pokemon were helping out as well. Wendy's Staraptor was hanging streamers all over the Tree of Harmony, Sven and his Luxray were helping move some tables around, and even Keith and Buizel were helping out with the food. Although, whenever Keith looked away, Buizel would swipe some of the food, which made me giggle.

I walked over to Keith, who at once ackonwlegeded my presense.

"Hey Rhyth, big day huh?" He said, but instead of smiling back, I smirked. He looked a little confused, probably because he didn't understand the meaning of my smirk.

"So, are you gonna ask Kate out later?" I asked him, causing him to fluster just a little bit, but he was quick to be defensive.

"What? You know she's a friend, and..."

"And you're to scared to ask her out." I quickly cut in before he had a chance to think about some lame excuse, or give the entire 'we're just friends' speech.

"I am not!" He practically shouted, causing the others to look our way. But they soon just brushed it off, and continued with whatever they were doing.

"Then I dare you to ask her out at the party, and when she says yes, you have to admit to me on how much of an idiot you are." I said matter of factly, and I was feeling pretty confident.

"Fine!" Hehe, I knew Keith could never turn down a challenge, "And if she says no, _you_ have to admit on how much an idiot you are, and how I'm so much smarter than you!" No way that's ever going to happen! But wait, Kate will definately say yes! I know she will!

"Deal!" I said, and held out my hand, which he gladly shook. Now, there was no turning back on this dare, and we both knew it.

Oh god Kate, please don't turn him down!

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**A/N: Sorry it's kinda short, but it will get better! Now please tell me what you think. Flames accepted, but not appreciated.**


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